Senator Hillary Clinton... rarely discusses her Wal-Mart tenure... In 1986, Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, had a problem. He was under growing pressure from shareholders -- and his wife, Helen -- to appoint a woman to the company's 15-member board of directors. So Walton turned to a young lawyer who just happened to be married to the governor of Arkansas, where Wal-Mart is based: Hillary Clinton.

Clinton's six-year tenure as a director of Wal-Mart... remains a little known chapter in her closely scrutinized career...

Fellow board members and company executives... say Clinton used her position to champion personal causes, like the need for more women in management and a comprehensive environmental program. At the time, she was Wal-Mart's only female director, the youngest and arguably the least experienced in business. On other topics, like Wal-Mart's vehement antiunionism, for example, she was largely silent, they said.

Her years on the Wal-Mart board, from 1986 to 1992, gave her an unusual tutorial in the ways of American business ...

But that education came via a company that the Democratic Party -- and its major ally, organized labor -- has turned into a target...

So rather than promote her board membership, Clinton is now running from it, even returning a $5,000 campaign donation from the giant discount chain in 2005, citing "serious differences" with its practices.

...

Walton ...[told] shareholders during the annual meeting in 1987 that the company had a "strong - willed young lady on the board now who has already told the board it should do more to ensure the advancement of women."

... Though she was passionate about issues like gender and sustainability, Clinton largely sat on the sidelines when it came to Wal-Mart and unions, board members said. ...

If Wal-Mart ever goes union, there will no longer be any reason to shop there. Their prices will go up to everybody elses’ level, so I’d shop for convenience instead. K-Mart is closer to my home, and Target is about same distance as Wal-Mart, but I usually got to Wal-Mart instead. If they have to use union labor, there won’t be as many customers and so people will actually lose jobs, rather than make new ones.............

6
posted on 05/22/2007 11:16:58 AM PDT
by Red Badger
(My gerund got caught in my diphthong, and now I have a dangling participle...............)

“If Wal-Mart ever goes union, there will no longer be any reason to shop there.”

There are no unions in China, where Walmart buys more & more of their stuff. Remember the Sam Walton days when Wallie Mart proudly placed “Made in America” stickers on the products they sold? That died with Sam.

9
posted on 05/22/2007 1:26:10 PM PDT
by DBCJR
(What would you expect?)

...Wallie Mart proudly placed Made in America stickers on the products they sold? That died with Sam.

How many things in our lives are actually Made In America nowadays? Very few, other than toiletries and some big ticket items. Shoes, Clothing & Textiles, Furniture, Small appliances and electronics, almost all those things are now foreign manufactured. Even if you wanted to, you could not procure enough parts to make a fully American made radio or TV set. If we ever get into a fullscale war like WWII where we need our heavy industries and mfrg base, we are in a big hurtin........

10
posted on 05/22/2007 1:33:33 PM PDT
by Red Badger
(My gerund got caught in my diphthong, and now I have a dangling participle...............)

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